Imagine
you are coral, and killer seaweed is approaching. What do you do? Why,
you call for help - and your fish bodyguards take care of the problem!
In a recent experiment, researchers from the Georgia Institute of
Technology exposed sets of Acropora nasuta coral to filaments of the
seaweed Chlorodesmis fastigiata. This seaweed is toxic to the coral and
greatly damages it. Some sets of coral wer
e
occupied by gobies, inch long fish that live in the coral all their
lives. Within a few minutes of seaweed reaching the coral, gobies
arrived on the scene trimming the seaweed back. Compared to the
uninhabited coral, the "goby-tended" coral did much better against the
seaweed - the amount of seaweed reduced by 30% over three days, and
there was a 70-80% decrease in damage.
Further tests showed
that the one of the two gobi species doesn't actually eat the seaweed,
just biting it off to prevent it reaching the coral again. Another test
revealed that water from around the seaweed was not enough for gobies to
arrive - it had to be water from where seaweed had reached the coral,
which is great evidence for a chemical cue. Researchers said that while
they can't rule out that the chemical is a stress response from the
coral, the evidence suggests it may well be a call for help.
It's interesting how other denizens of the coral reacted. While gobies
rushed to aid, damselfish got the hell out - abandoning the coral in 48
hours. Mutualistic relationships like this one have been observed before
in nature (we previously discussed how the black mustard plant can call
for help from wasps) but there is less knowledge about them in marine
habitats.
Photo credit: Georgia Tech Photo: Joao Paulo Krajewski.
To find out about the black mustard/wasp relationship: http://tinyurl.com/bevun9n
http://www.nature.com/news/
http://www.livescience.com/
http://www.newswise.com/
Imagine
you are coral, and killer seaweed is approaching. What do you do? Why,
you call for help - and your fish bodyguards take care of the problem!
In a recent experiment, researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology exposed sets of Acropora nasuta coral to filaments of the seaweed Chlorodesmis fastigiata. This seaweed is toxic to the coral and greatly damages it. Some sets of coral wer
In a recent experiment, researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology exposed sets of Acropora nasuta coral to filaments of the seaweed Chlorodesmis fastigiata. This seaweed is toxic to the coral and greatly damages it. Some sets of coral wer
e
occupied by gobies, inch long fish that live in the coral all their
lives. Within a few minutes of seaweed reaching the coral, gobies
arrived on the scene trimming the seaweed back. Compared to the
uninhabited coral, the "goby-tended" coral did much better against the
seaweed - the amount of seaweed reduced by 30% over three days, and
there was a 70-80% decrease in damage.
Further tests showed that the one of the two gobi species doesn't actually eat the seaweed, just biting it off to prevent it reaching the coral again. Another test revealed that water from around the seaweed was not enough for gobies to arrive - it had to be water from where seaweed had reached the coral, which is great evidence for a chemical cue. Researchers said that while they can't rule out that the chemical is a stress response from the coral, the evidence suggests it may well be a call for help.
It's interesting how other denizens of the coral reacted. While gobies rushed to aid, damselfish got the hell out - abandoning the coral in 48 hours. Mutualistic relationships like this one have been observed before in nature (we previously discussed how the black mustard plant can call for help from wasps) but there is less knowledge about them in marine habitats.
Photo credit: Georgia Tech Photo: Joao Paulo Krajewski.
To find out about the black mustard/wasp relationship: http://tinyurl.com/bevun9n
http://www.nature.com/news/
http://www.livescience.com/
http://www.newswise.com/
Further tests showed that the one of the two gobi species doesn't actually eat the seaweed, just biting it off to prevent it reaching the coral again. Another test revealed that water from around the seaweed was not enough for gobies to arrive - it had to be water from where seaweed had reached the coral, which is great evidence for a chemical cue. Researchers said that while they can't rule out that the chemical is a stress response from the coral, the evidence suggests it may well be a call for help.
It's interesting how other denizens of the coral reacted. While gobies rushed to aid, damselfish got the hell out - abandoning the coral in 48 hours. Mutualistic relationships like this one have been observed before in nature (we previously discussed how the black mustard plant can call for help from wasps) but there is less knowledge about them in marine habitats.
Photo credit: Georgia Tech Photo: Joao Paulo Krajewski.
To find out about the black mustard/wasp relationship: http://tinyurl.com/bevun9n
http://www.nature.com/news/
http://www.livescience.com/
http://www.newswise.com/
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